Cross, the former UConn ace, has spent the past year-plus as a member of the State College Spikes, the Cardinals’ Class-A short-season affiliate in the New York-Penn League. In 15 outings (14 starts) over the past two seasons, the 6-foot-5 righthander is 5-4 with a 3.16 ERA. He’s only struck out 44 batters in 74 innings but has walked just 19, and owns a 1.23 WHIP.

“Things have been going well,” Cross said. “I’m making pretty good pitches and getting pretty good results. I’m just trying to get better at little things each time out.”

Cross, who hails from Brentwood, New Hampshire, was back at his old haunts last week at Dodd Stadium, where the Spikes played a three-game set with the Connecticut Tigers. UConn typically plays a few games each season at Dodd, and Cross recalled pitching there a few times while with the Huskies, notching a win in 3 1/3 innings of relief in 2012 as a redshirt freshman against Rutgers.

He didn’t get to pitch in this latest visit, sandwiched between a July 9 start against Auburn and Friday’s start against Mahoning Valley. But he was able to renew plenty of old acquaintances, including former longtime UConn baseball coach Andy Baylock, who pitches batting practice for the Tigers.

“We tried to talk him into coming out for the team in the fall (of 2013), just to see what happens,” Cross recalled. “But, talking with Andy Baylock, he said at that point in time, he wasn’t really into it 100 percent. But it sounds like things are going pretty well.”

As a senior at UConn in 2015, Cross went 10-2 with a 2.72 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 106 innings. He was selected in the 15th round of the MLB draft by St. Louis and spent the summer with State College, going 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA.

Cross participated in his first spring training this season, and it was a valuable experience. The Cardinals share a spring training facility with the Miami Marlins in Jupiter, Florida, and Cross got to watch first-hand as Barry Bonds dueled Giancarlo Stanton in home run derby.

Bonds won.

Cross stayed back in extended spring training in April, where rehabbing Cardinal pitchers like Mitch Harris and Lance Lynn imparted some advice, then was assigned again to State College. He loves living in an historic college town (“I’d say it’s like UConn, but just a little bigger,” he noted) and continues to try to improve and make his delivery more consistent and repeatable.

“I feel like I’ve made good progress this year,” he said. “It started off a little bumpy in spring training, but it’s been coming together good since the season started.”

And Cross believes that success will continue.

“I think there’s more to come the rest of the year,” he added. “I feel like I’ve gotten better each time out so far, so I’ll keep building on that, see where things take me.”

Bierfeldt promoted

Bierfeldt hit .273 with 14 homers and 41 RBIs for Frederick, the Orioles’ Carolina League affiliate. He was named the league’s player of the month for June after hitting eight homers and 25 RBIs in 25 games.